NOTE: Sorry I have not posted any craft tutorials in a while. I misplaced the cord for my camera… because life. The good news is that I did some cleaning, found it, and am ready to get back to crafting!

Summer means sunny days and warm nights, swimming at the beach, and grilling out with friends. It also means lots of opportunities to each a lot of fresh fruits and veggies. In this tutorial, I will show you how to re-purpose some of your food scraps to make awesome kid-friendly art.

 

Use these techniques and come up with your own.

 

  1. Cantaloupe Rind Shapes

 

Supplies:

  • Cutting board
  • Scissors (use ones you don’t mind using on food)
  • Knife
  • Rind of cantaloupe
  • Container for storage
Use the knife to cut off the melon part. Get as close to the rind as you can.

 

Use the scissors to cut various shapes out of the rind.

 

To use your stamps, simply brush some paint onto the rough outer layer of the rind…

 

…and press on paper.

 

2. Carrot Stamps

To utilize the natural shapes of vegetables, you can also take the ends of carrots, zucchini, potatoes, peppers, etc., dip them in some paint and create fun stamps.

 

Here are a few of my own creations, which I used for an afternoon of babysitting. The kids were very entertained and loved the idea of using food to paint. I also prepped some extra cantaloupe rind so the older boy I babysit could cut his own. Awesome craft to keep kids busy during the summer months.

 

Celery and romaine lettuce ends make gorgeous flowers (as do the tops of peppers!).

 

Or you can just let the kids go to town with their stamps and paints to create more abstract artwork.

 

Use what you have after cooking or meal prepping and create your own fun ideas! Think of other food waste items such as corn cobs (just rinse and paint), avocado pits, banana peels, apple seeds, peach stones, etc. Whatever you’ve got laying around.